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BRUCE FRANCIS, CNNfn ANCHOR, DIGITAL JAM: There'll be another trespasser on the computer game market starting this fall. The trespasser is the follow up game to The Lost World and an upcoming release from Dreamworks Interactive. That's a joint venture of Microsoft (Company: Microsoft Corporation ; Ticker: MSFT ; URL: http://www.microsoft.com/) and the Dreamworks SKG movie studio. The company is trying to make its mark in a rapidly consolidating field and keep developing games about dinosaurs without becoming one. Fortunately for Glen Entis, the CEO of Dreamworks Interactive, he's got two deep pocketed corporate parents on his side in Los Angeles where he joins us now. Thanks for being with us, Mr. Entis.

FRANCIS: First of all, let's start with that concept. This has been a very, very tough business in which to make a buck. How are you doing financially? And what's your plan?

ENTIS: Well, it is a tough business. It's a very competitive business. And fortunately for our audience and all the audience of games it's a tough, competitive business because there's a lot of great games out there. We're doing just fine. We have great financial backing. We've taken a very long view towards the business. But we've also, we've been very fortunate to have a number of strong titles and I think a business plan that really is going to suit us for the long term.

FRANCIS: Is taking a long view, is that French for, we're not profitable now, but we hope to be?

ENTIS: We're very close to it. But we're not quite there yet. You know, one of the things that we found out in the last couple of years. We started as small publisher ourselves. And I think one of the key things that we've learned that a lot of people in the business are learning is that, that there really, the consolidation is really all about the publishers not necessarily the developers. So what we're doing is we've refocused on developing titles rather than publishing them. And that's a very different business model. It's one that much more attuned to what we originally set out to do which was to be a creative shop and create great titles and then take the distribution, marketing and inventory issues and basically off load those to partners who were much more experienced and have much more scale in the marketplace.

FRANCIS: What works best for you creating a title out of whole cloth from the bits on up? Or doing what you're doing with the Trespasser, work off an established brand that's established itself in another medium, the filmed entertainment?

ENTIS: Well, we're really trying to take a balanced approach. Both really work well. In the case of Trespasser, you know, what we're doing is taking a place, the dinosaurs and a theme that obviously has strong recognition and that people are very interested in learning more about and beginning with that and creating an experience which basically builds on that experience. And let's you not only go back and visit that world, but interact in that world, to interact physically with the elements in that world, to shoot dinosaurs, to interact physically with the dinosaurs. And basically in this game you're asked to -- if you find yourself on this island to use your wits and a little bit of skill to get off the island a live.

ENTIS: Well, our dinosaurs like we are guessing the original dinosaurs get hungry and curious and angry and frightened. And it really depends on the circumstances, the size of the dinosaur, whether or not they've just been shot or pummeled in the head with a brick. What we really have done is created in the intelligence -- artificial intelligence for the dinosaurs, we've tried to give them believable behavior in the game so that they're not just canned animation or totally predictable. But they're going to respond to you.

FRANCIS: When will they get to the point where they're reacting to me like this raptor knows that I'm going to hide -- I like to hide behind the banana plant before I go after him? Where are they going to be like that?

ENTIS: Oh, that will be Trespasser II.

(LAUGHTER)

ENTIS: These dinosaurs don't learn. But they are pretty smart.

FRANCIS: What's ahead for your venture here? What's the next step for you guys?

ENTIS: You know, for us the central issue is starting with great game play but building games that really are going to benefit from the production value that a company like Dreamworks can bring to the titles. We really do start with game design. That's always the first step. But we have world class animators, artists, writers, musicians, sound designers, voice talent. And our goal is to really make a game that's not only fun but delivers a rich visual and sound experience that people would expect from a major entertainment company.

FRANCIS: All right, Glen, thank you very much for joining us.

ENTIS: My pleasure.

FRANCIS: Come back and show us some more titles in the future. Glen Entis, CEO of Dreamworks Interactive.

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